


True Love's Kiss

by Johniarty



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rumbelle - Freeform, Season Finale, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3920776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johniarty/pseuds/Johniarty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If no one else is going to help Rumple, then dammit, Belle will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	True Love's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to make this smutty, but my poor Rumple needs to rest.

If they weren’t going to help him, Belle would. Casting one dark, thunderous glance in the “heroes’” direction, she dragged the prone form of her husband toward the other bench. Sure, lugging a one-hundred-and-fifty-pound dead weight was difficult, but Belle was stronger than she looked. She guided Rumplestiltskin onto the cushions and covered him with a thin blanket.

“Hang on,” she whispered, stroking his cheek. “Just hang on, Rumple. I know you’re strong, I know you can recover without the Dark One’s power.” She saw it with her own eyes. Black, grasping tendrils that ripped itself from the prison of the hat - and it had coiled within Rumple’s heart, poisoning him, cursing him to a life of poor decisions and suffering.

Three hundred years. He’d struggled to keep his humanity alive, struggled to withstand the influence of an all-consuming primordial evil. No wonder he lied. No wonder he feared. No wonder he acted impulsively and his actions fluctuated so badly. The man she fell in love with believed he was a monster because the monster dwelt within him.

Now, though… Now he was free. The heart that the Apprentice place back in his chest was white and pure. It radiated light. Was that the true Rumplestiltskin? Was that the spinner he spoke of as if it were another life? Was that truly her husband? Even her heart was a healthy, flushed red. No darkness. No… emptiness.

But was it empty? Or was that just light magic. In the strange world Isaac created, Rumple was The Light One. A man with incredible light magic, who chose to live in a small cottage with her. With their child. After a life of adventuring together, she took a rest to care for their child while he kept the ogres at bay. Every night he returned to her, smiling and gentle…

Belle had to believe that goodness was what remained inside that heart. If it were blank, if his life and memories were erased, she wasn’t sure she could handle that. All they’d fought for, all they’d suffered through, deserved more acknowledgement than that.

“Rumplestiltskin, you’re going to get better. You’re going to beat this. You have to. I told you we could have had that family, that life Isaac showed us in his book - and we still can. It’s gone, that horrible thing is gone, and I love you just as much as I did in the forest. I don’t care if you’re made of gold, I don’t care if you look human, I don’t care if you’re a knight or a wizard or a - a spinner! Rumple, in this world, in any world, I love you, and I will always be by your side.”

Blinking away her tears, Belle leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to his cool lips. Her love welled in her heart, searing hot as it surged through her. A breeze stirred her hair as light shone from outside - through the darkness of night that blanketed the town. Beneath her, Belle felt Rumple suck in a gasping breath.

Could it be? She’d tried it once before, in the Forest; a kiss to free her Beast. A kiss to save him. Here, though, there was no curse to break. Rumple was free - just nearly dead, stuck in a coma and clinging to the last scraps of life. His strength was undeniable - he’d pull through.

And her kiss only seemed to progress his healing.

“Belle?” Rumplestiltskin whispered. He tried to rise, but he didn’t possess the strength. Falling back on the pillows with a grunt, Rumple reached for her hand. Their fingers laced together, and a gentle smile spread across his lips.

“I can’t feel him. He’s gone… I don’t know what you did, my love, but I cannot feel that creature any more. In three hundred years, I haven’t felt this unburdened.”

“Good! Rumple, that’s wonderful!” Though she didn’t dare bring it up, Belle couldn’t help but wonder if this meant that his good deeds would stick. Rumplestiltskin was no longer cursed. If he tried, could he live his life without the Dark One?

Smiling, Rumple lifted her hand to his lips, pressing a shaking kiss to her smooth skin. “If I have to choose between me and us, Belle? I choose us. I want the story where we’re happy. Nothing can make up for the things I did…”

Belle cut him off with another kiss, slow and lingering.

“We’ve got a fresh start, Rumple. It won’t be easy, but without the dagger - without the Dark One’s greed - we may be able to make this work.”

“I couldn’t ask you for that. Belle, I - “

“No more pushing me away, Rumple. I love you, and I’ve let you slip away far too many times. This is my happy ending, you know. No curse, no distractions, just us. Without that… that thing, controlling you, poisoning that beautiful heart of yours.”

“And you… you want to try again?” The hope in his voice nearly broke Belle’s heart all over again.

“I do, Rumplestiltskin. Get some rest, please. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal today, and I’m still angry, but we can talk about that later. And we will. No more hiding our problems from one another.”

“Yes, Belle…” Rumple closed his eyes with a quiet sigh. “Will you be here when I wake up?”

“I will never leave your side.”


End file.
